Tax Briefs

Everyone needs a solid estate plan to distribute assets according to their wishes and benefit their heirs. But this necessity is especially keen for business owners, many of whom have spent years working hard to build up the values of their companies.

If you can relate to this statement, one effective way to reduce estate taxes is to limit the amount of appreciation in your estate — and your company may provide just the ticket for doing so.

Why appreciation?

You’ll save the most in estate taxes by giving away assets with the highest probability of future appreciation. Why? Because gifting these assets today will keep future appreciation on those assets out of your taxable estate. Thus, there may be no better gift than your company stock, which could be the most rapidly appreciating asset you own.

For example, assume your business is worth $5 million today but is likely to be worth $15 million in several years. By giving away some of the stock today, you’ll keep a substantial portion of the future appreciation out of your taxable estate.

What are the limits?

Naturally, there are limits to how much you can give without tax consequences. Each individual is entitled to give as much as $14,000 per year per recipient without incurring any gift tax or using any of his or her $5.45 million lifetime gift, estate or generation-skipping transfer tax exemption amount.

Also be aware that, because you’re giving away company stock, the IRS may challenge the value you place on the gift and try to increase it substantially. The agency is required to make any challenges to a gift tax return within the normal three-year statute of limitations — even when no tax is payable with the return. But the statute of limitations applies only if certain disclosures are made on the gift tax return. Generally, for gifts of stock that isn’t publicly traded, a professional business valuation is highly recommended.

Who can help?

If the idea of giving away portions of your business to reduce estate tax exposure intrigues you, please contact us. We can help you fully assess the feasibility of this strategy as it pertains to your specific situation.